BBC plans/Arts Broadcasts and changing energy suppliers (again)

The BBC has been putting together some plans for what I'd describe as a period of retrenchment, it'll be  difficult to accomplish and retain public approval within what I perceive to be rising expectations by many of its viewers and listeners.



Let's put Saville to one side

While an index linked settlement has worked well to allow the BBC to build a formidable web and iPlayer services the challenge is to keep servicing all viewers (as far as is practicable) and to keep political friends on side without appearing too untroubled by the assaults made by the foes within Westminster  (and to a lesser extent Holyrood).

My view would be that the BBC should not be too defensive with respect to what it currently does for its audience and for UK PLC.

Lord (Tony) Hall is patrician of the first order, possibly  more at home at the Ballet than on the Football Terraces but he's an experienced operator and has the well connected James Purnell to help lobby those he needs to and he's taken a punt on where the powers to be would like to Aunty in the future.



Arts will remain a key area for the BBC to excel in as commercial TV tends to shy away from anything which is esoteric (to be fair Sky Arts are delivering some impressive content in this area now too).

What many do in UK now

I'm not sure what has happened to ' The Space' TV offering (which I rather enjoyed and was meant to be returning) but I caught up with two great shows last week one in the What do Artists do all day on Sir Peter Blake (another example of how Art helps aid Longevity and engagement in life)   the other was a somewhat partial but still worthwhile study of  the history of Graffiti with a somewhat mannered academic Dr Richard Clay taking on the presentation duties.

[Interesting to see what a poor performance on all fronts Local TV has been able to provide so far - problem is that they've shied away from being a Local TV News service and being sensationalist - the two things that could have brought some life to the channels]

Energy Suppliers

When I first studied Economics as a callow youth at School in the Sixth form it was fairly easy to grasp the concept  of an ideal  or more correctly Perfect market- imagine a large number (infinite is best) of stalls offering a selection of bananas - I can plod around and find what  suits me best - Electricity and Gas are not in that happy (for consumers) market.

After a somewhat troublesome move  from E-on to Scottish Power it looks like I'll be moving  to E-On (who I hope are more on the ball than my present suppliers) , in truth the energy market is decidedly not working, chief beneficiaries of moving from one deal to another are the price comparison websites and those who are actually looking at the best deals are the usual suspects who know how to play the game - this was something Ed Miliband was right to target, it's a shame that he's not in a position to carry through with it.